Howl: A World at War Novel (18 page)

“
I didn't. She ended up in Danny's platoon, and he told her that she was leading Bravo 3. Didn't ask her.
Told
her.”

“
And did that go over well?”

Zach shrugged. “It seems to have gone well. She's been very successful.” His radio buzzed. Danny was on the other end of the line. “This is Wolf Lead.”

“Wolf Lead, this is Bravo Wolf. We're about to be engaged by Ragnarok troops coming out of Old Chicago.”

“
Need anything?”

“
They have more troops than we expected, but we should be able to handle it. I just wanted to alert you. ”

“
Thanks, and good luck,” Zach said. He switched out of the channel. “Speak of the devil. Ragnarok's about to get a taste of what they sowed.”

Something was wrong. Very wrong. Watchman had reported around three hundred Ragnarok troops moving out of Old Chicago, twice the number that had been expecting. They could probably handle them, since half would be their less capable regulars, but it was a troubling development nonetheless.

The second sign that something was amiss was when the battle started. Ragnarok was hurrying down the highway, apparently trying to get to Fort Odin as fast as possible. They were completely unprepared for the ambush ahead of them.

Morgan's platoon had cut down the forward units before they even knew what was happening. The troops behind them had panicked and scattered into the brush, laying down heavy but ineffective fire. That suited Sacred Sword just fine; Gio and Staci pushed their platoons forward on the flanks, forcing the enemy into close range firefights. It was an area where the Valkyries excelled, but the enemy here was taking heavy losses. Sacred Sword was having their way with them. Then Morgan's forces pushed their way down the center, supported by
Orcrist
. The sudden attack coupled with the appearance of armor threw them back even further.

Danny hadn't even bothered to send Redd Foxx or Black Wolf into the fight yet. Sacred Sword was dealing with Ragnarok just fine, and adding more units at this point would only serve to create confusion. But even though they were clearly winning, he felt uneasy. Where were the Valkyries?

Whatever the case, he needed to report this development. Danny had the nasty suspicion that the enemy had a surprise prepared for them. “Wolf Lead, Wolf Lead, we've engaged the enemy. They are
not
the Valkyries. I repeat, we're engaged with enemy troops that are not the Valkyries.”

The other end was silent for a moment. “Do you have any idea where they are?” Zach asked.

“No, which is why I'm worried,” Danny said. “Is there any chance that they left through the southern end of Old Chicago and are going to try to come up on your rear?”

“
We would have heard something from our NPC guards,” Zach said. The way south went straight through Black Wolf territory, and the NPC guards were programed to attack anyone without clearance. They would get alerts if a fight broke out.

“
They could have avoided them,” Danny said.

“
Well, that's what Jackal is here for,” Zach said. “I'll admit I'm not comfortable that we don't know where they are, but there's no use worrying about them until they show . We have precautions in place.”

His alert buzzed again. Watchman was calling him. Danny switched channels so both he and Zach could hear the report. “Watchman, what's up?”

“We've spotted enemy troops moving south, about eight miles north of your position. About two hundred or so,” Watchman said. “They seem to be in a hurry.”

“
Do you think they're springing a trap?” Zach asked.

“
No, they're acting like they've been caught by surprise, actually. They're headed south pretty fast.”

“
Same as the force coming out of Old Chicago,” Danny said to himself.

“
You have an idea?” Zach asked.

“
Maybe, but regardless we need to do something to stop it. I still have the ranger platoons in reserve here. They haven't fought yet. I'll move them north and block the enemy.”

“
Sounds good,” Zach said. “I'll send Raven Flight your way for support.”

“
Thanks. If you can get Ronin to hurry, that would be good,” Danny said. “Bravo Wolf out.”

Liz glanced at him. “We're moving?”

“Yup, let's step on it. We want to get in position so we can ambush them.” He switched channels. “David, there's a force coming south. I'm taking the rangers to hold them off, so I'll leave you in charge here, naturally.”

“
Sounds good, and good luck,” David said. There was a lot of noise coming from the direction of the front lines, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. Sacred Sword was built for slugging matches with tough enemies.

Danny hefted his machine gun and tuned his radio to the rest of the rangers. “OK guys, we've got some action. Let's move!”

Danny's discovery had been an unpleasant surprise. Zach knew the Valkyries were capable of making raids deep into enemy territory; after all his first confrontation with them had taken place miles away from the their holdings. He thought that Jackal could protect them if they ran into trouble, and Bravehart and Griffon weren't helpless either. They had a large force of troops here, enough to fight the enemy on even terms if they came charging at their rear lines. But it never hurt to be sure.

Zach had been trying to contact Nora for several minutes. She was too far out of the range of their personal radios for a direct link, but he thought he might be able to bounce the signal around a bit. They had a boosted radio set with them; from here he would relay a signal to Black Wolf's former headquarters, and from there the signal would be bounced from boosted set to boosted set until it reached their southernmost base. At least, he hoped it would go that way. He could also message her, but he was worried that it would take too long.

“
Nora, are you there? Nora? Are you there?” Nothing. He tried again. “Nora, this is Zach. Are you there? Are-”

A voice answered, backed by a considerable amount of static. “I'm here.” There was a pause that lasted for five seconds. “Yeah Zach, I hear you,” Nora said again.

“Sorry, I'm using a relayed channel. I think there's about a five second delay,” Zach said.

There was silence, then a response after five seconds. His assumption was correct. “OK. What do you need?”

“Danny thinks that the Valkyries might be moving through our territory hit us with a sneak attack from behind. Can you get your Sparrow up in the air to do some recon work?”

Silence. “Can't you use your choppers to scout the area?” Nora finally asked.

“I had to send them with Danny as fire support,” Zach said. “I'd use our Sparrow, but Ragnarok is sending a lot of troops at us from different directions.”

There was another pause, longer than five seconds this time. “I'll try to, yes,” Nora said. “Be warned that it will take about twenty minutes or so.”

“That's fine, I just wanted insurance. Thanks Nora.”

“
No problem.”

Zach thought for a moment, then switched channels. “Shayna? Move your troops to the rear and get them in position to defend against an attack coming from the south. We're not going to have any trouble coming from the north. Ronin's already in the fort.”

“From the south? Is there something I don't know about?” Shayna asked.

“
Just call it a hunch.”

“
Understood. Jackal Lead out.”

Beside him Bryce activated his own radio. “Kurt, I'm going to put my guys on alert for an attack from the rear. We can't do anything while Ronin's in the fort, anyhow. You'll do the same. OK, good.” He switched channels. “Bravehart, we might have company coming from the south. Be prepared.”

“It's just a hunch,” Zach said, trying to convince himself as well.

Bryce shrugged. “Never hurts to be careful.”

Zach nodded. There was no use focusing on phantom battles right now. There were plenty of real fights that they had to win.

Let them get right on top of us. That was the order Liz had given out. The troops coming from the north had a vanguard force in front to scout for them, consisting of a dozen troops or so. Redd Foxx and Black Wolf had hidden themselves well, in dips in the ground, under leaves, behind trees and small rises.

The enemy moved forward, looking for ambushes and any other threats. It was agonizing to watch them, hoping that his troops wouldn't be discovered. They came closer and closer. And then, his troops struck.

Up and down the line the enemy scouts fell. Some were tripped and then stabbed. Others passed trees and suddenly had a Hydra trooper jump on top of them. One particularly unlucky scout got an arrow right in the throat. Knives were king here.

As soon as the scout were down the rangers moved into their defensive positions. Danny had two possible plans he might put into action. In the first one, they would stand and fight. The rangers would hug cover and duel the enemy at range, relying on their marksmanship and firepower to carry the day. The second plan would rely on their stealth and maneuver skills. If he chose it the rangers would fall back, fading in and out of the forest. They would use hit and run attacks to disrupt and confuse the enemy.

It was a matter of how they wanted to tackle the enemy force. If they wanted to deal with them all at once they would choose the first plan. If they wanted to divide them and take them out piece by piece they would choose the second. It would depend on how the enemy reacted.

Danny decided he would go with the first plan. If the second one looked like it was a better option then he was confident that his troops would be able to break away and disappear into the forest.

He looked up as he heard noise. Squads of Ragnarok troops were moving up through the forest. Danny was surprised that they hadn't used the road, but then again the might have heard what happened to the force coming from the city. They were being careful, at least. But they weren't being careful enough. And they weren't the Valkyries either. Just where were they?”

It didn't matter. That thought was for Zach to handle right now. What's your battle? That was the tagline for World at War, and for Danny his battle was right in front of him. It was time to fight it.

Ragnarok was getting close, about fifty yards away. He opened up a channel to the entire force. “Light 'em up.”

Danny cocked the bolt of his machine gun and looked down the sights. The forest erupted around him. He took aim at an engineer with a carbine and grenade launcher and fired off a burst. He caught him right in the chest. He swiveled, looking for targets and firing off bursts as he saw fit. Ragnarok troops were being scythed down like wheat. These weren't the Valkyries. These weren't veterans, and they weren't even average players. They acted like they were new players, the cannon fodder Ragnarok liked to use to add numbers to their attacks. What was going on here?

Ragnarok had them almost four to one, but they were reeling, hit hard by the ferocity of the ambush. The had made sure to take out the scouts with stealth kills, but experienced commanders would often keep in radio contact to ensure their scouts were actually still there. They had withdrawn a distance as well, about eighty to a hundred yards away from the Hydra line. They were probably trying to reorganize, trying to steel themselves against the nasty surprise that had popped out of the trees. But it was also a huge mistake.

“
Joe, Leigh, smoke 'em,” Danny ordered. A few seconds later a pair of grenades flew toward the enemy line. They started to belch orange smoke when they landed. “Raven Flight, do you see the smoke?”

“
I see it,” Robbie said.

“
Make an imaginary line between the two spots of smoke. Ragnarok's along that line. Strafe them. And don't bother being careful. They're scrubs down here.”

“
Roger.”

Danny watched the choppers of Raven Flight zoom in for their attack runs. This time he actually felt sorry for Ragnarok.

Despite their worries the attack had gone off without a hitch. Hydra's bombardment had gone perfectly, and Ronin had stormed the fortress without too many unforeseen problems. They had lost a quarter of their troops, but that was to be expected. It could have been far worse. Zach was pleased with their results.

With Fort Odin in Ronin's hands Hydra no longer had any territory that bordered Ragnarok. They could still launch attacks from Old Chicago but that meant running into the teeth of Hydra defenses in the north. And with Ronin pressing on their doorstep, attacks like that were very unlikely. They had done it. They had secured the north and clear the way for an operation against Indianapolis. They should have all been completely satisfied.

Instead, Danny was extremely agitated, and Zach was troubled as well. True, they had won, and had put Ragnarok in a tough strategic position. But it was that second fact that gnawed at them so much. Losing both Fort Baldr and Fort Odin meant that Ronin's alliance was now in a much stronger position. It had to be clear to them that Ronin and Hydra were cooperating as well. So why didn't they use their best unit? What were they up to?